Jormungandr
by Smaugtheterrible
Summary: Taylor Hebert triggers, but this time, amongst the insults, one of the things that cropped up the most in the insults given to her was 'snake-like'.
1. Chapter 1

_Jormungander_

Armsmaster had received a call form Shadowstalker, who had sounded panicked, the call had been cut off mid report, but she had managed to get out a garbled report.

_'__great big bloody snake - urning - to stone - send backup - know who's doing it - HEBERT!'_

The hero finished listening to the recording for the third time as he pulled up to the Winslow school parking lot, Miss Milita began walking over as soon as she noticed him pull up. With a nod she began speaking.

"Initial thermal scans revealed only a singular heat source, a _large_ one, moving steadily throughout the school as though searching for something."

Armsmaster nodded in appreciation of the quick and to the point response as he moved, the other members of the Protectorate falling behind him. The only remaining member of the Protectorate not entering the school, Triumph, was remaining behind to command the wards. Director Piggot was standing my at the command center, with her finger on the metaphorical button.

If she declared a 'state of parahuman emergency', then not only would the national guard be deployed, but all nearby Protectorate stations or outposts would be required to send at least one veteran hero to reinforce the city. To be fair, she would also be forced to resign her position, face a massive fine, or even go to jail for a decade or two if her emergency claiming of resources was found to be false.

Armsmaster sighed as he shouldered his customary halberd and rolled his neck, his vertebrae cracking as prepared himself.

He took a deep breath, savoring the crisp winter air, tainted with the smell and sound of bodies and vehicles.

But there was something else, something musky, almost rotting. Maybe even something dead.

_Scene Break_

Immediately, as the Protectorate heroes entered the school, they each could feel something subtly wrong with the air, it showed in the tightened muscles, in their creasing lips, and in their stiff postures.

There was a thick and musty scent in the air, one of Armsmasters hands shot up in a clenched fist in a motion to stop.

Forward in the darkness of the abandoned high school, was a number of motionless shapes. The hero coughed loudly, but the figures showed no reaction. Again, he motioned for the other heroes to remain still as he slowly crept forward.

There was a scattering of statues, each one a separate image of frozen horror.

Armsmaster quietly turned on a com-link and spoke low.

"My facial recognition symptoms tell me these statues look like the students. I think the students, and most likely the staff of Winslow have been turned into these statues."

The other heroes cursed or frowned as it suited them but then froze, as they heard what sounded like silk on over gravel from behind them. They whirled, just in time to see the double doors that according to the schematics that were showing on his helmets hud, were to the schools gym.

Armsmaster was immediately on coms with the on-sight command center.

"This is Armsmaster, we've got a possible contact heading into the gym. Possible stranger classifications along with whatever happened to the students. Permission to pursue?"

Director Piggot replied promptly over coms, startling Armsmaster who expected the director to remain at headquarters.

"_Permission granted Armsmaster, the Chief Director and the Triumvirate want to know what happened."_

Armsmaster winced internally, Piggot was subtlety telling him that a lot of eyes were going to be on this. But at the same time, this was also an opportunity, if he could figure out what was doing this, and maybe even reverse the condition of stoned staff and students.

Armsmaster cautiously crept forward, and opened the double doors by using his halberd to open the door as his fellow heroes fell in behind him. As they stepped into the massive gymnasium, they heard that sound again, that silk on gravel sound.

The heroes carefully examined the gym. It was a standard basketball court surface, with collapsible metal and plastic stands on either side, with concrete steps and seats over the surrounding hallways and supply rooms that were hidden behind the plastic bleachers.

They cautiously made their way towards the middle of the room, and then they heard what sounded like crying, the heroes glanced at each other, before finally, Assault, grudgingly spoke up loudly in the near silence.

"Hello! Anyone here? Protectorate heroes are here, so please announce yourself!"

There was a heavy silence, steeped in a thick, almost cloying atmosphere that threatened to choke the breath form the heroes lungs.

And then like lighting from a clear blue sky, like the bullet from a gun, a _massive _form shot out from one of the partially obscure hallways, 3 feet, 6 feet, 8 feet, 15, _20 feet long._

A serpent, twenty feet long ended coiled up around the heroes, its darks scales seeming to absorb ambient light, while bone spurs, almost like spikes at every so often along the huge serpents began to flutter themselves erect.

And then the snake leaned its head in close, thick, semi transparent membrane over its eyes rendering the blueish grey orbs a milky-blind quality, and finally the massive snake _spoke_.

_"__Hello _**_Heros_**_."_

_End of Jormungandr chapter 1_


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter two_

Armsmaster stared as the snake continued to watch them, its head slowly bobbing and waving through the air, milky blue-eyes locked onto Armsmasters.

"_well Heroes? Why oh why are you here?"_

The massive beast hissed as it slowly began circling the heroes,

Armsmaster opened his mouth to speak, but before he could the snake lunged forward and **_snapped!_** Its fanged jaws just inches away from his face before continuing to speak.

"_Could it be, perhaps, that you are here because of Shadowstalker?"_

Armaster nodded, but the snake didnt say anything it just seemed to silently laugh for a moment, before turning, and speeding out the double doors the heroes had entered the gym through, which slammed shut behind it.

There was another pause, before the snakes hissing, whispering voice wafted through the air towards them.

"_Come and find me little morsels… your ward is alive for now… but not for much longer…"_

_"__After all, I don't know how long _**_you're going to last either._**_"_

_Miss Mitlita POV_

Miltia felt her sweaty palms on the wood and plastic stock of her rifle, she let the other heroes continue to keep a careful watch on the head of the snake, but what had her attention was the fact that the snake seemed to be slowly growing and extending, it hadn't been that noticeable at first, but as the snake continued its rotations, its tail end got closer and closer to its head, and she could tell it wasn't getting any to her, which meant the snake itself was getting longer.

And quickly too.

But then it hissed at Armsmaster, its voice genderless, but somehow sultry, before blitzing out of the doorway.

Militia swallowed as Armsmaster turned to the rest of the heroes and spoke, she couldn't help it, but all she could hear in her head was the sound of her blood pounding in her ears.

The ex-child soldier couldn't fight the feeling, but she knew what it was, she was terrified. It was something shed never told anyone else, but when shed been on the run, a mere matter of months after she had triggered, she had gone to sleep one night in the outskirts of a small forest clearing, and woken up to a massive Rock Python sliding its heavy body over her arms and chest.

The snake had coiled up on top of her, before lounging on her for what had seemed like days, its sheer bulk stopping her from moving her arms to kill it.

It was one of the reasons why she suspected she had never gone through a second trigger event despite the horrors that seen in the years afterwards.

Simply put, nothing could equal what she'd already gone through.

She flinched when a hand fell onto her shoulder.

Velocity was behind her, a concerned expression on his face.

"You alright?"

Militia gave a weak smile.

"Fine, just tired I guess."

Velocity gave her a doubtful look, but then gently pushed her towards the gym exit.

"Come on, the boss says we're pulling out for now. We need to wait for some reinforcements from Boston, and apparently Dragon's sending out a heavy duty drone."

Miltia just nodded as they walked out of the gym… Still keeping a wary eye on the shadows.

_Scene Break_

Hours later, Armsmaster, Director Piggot, and Assistant Director Renick were all in the private conference room, in the middle of a teleconference call with the Boston PRT and Protectorate branches.

"So…" Began Director Armstrong, leader of Bostons PRT. "Let me get this straight. You've figured out who this snake was, and they triggered because one of your wards. The Parahuman in question… Taylor Herbert?"

Armsmaster coughed.

"It is pronounced 'He-bear-t' I believe, one r with a French pronunciation."

Armstrong waved his hand dismissively.

"Fine, and now, Taylor Hebert, who after turning the majority of the students and administration into statues, escaped in the form of twenty foot long snake that apparently can move as fast as your Parahumans with a Mover rating?"

Armsmaster sighed.

"When encountered with a hostile parahuman, with some sort of blaster or striker ability, not to mention the changer ability and what is likely to be a brute rating, and a low level mover and stranger ratings for her ability to move so quickly and silently, I chose not to risk the men and women under my command, and to instead retreat and put out the call for backup."

Armstrong stroked his chin, his fingers making an audible scratching sound against his unshaven face, even across the video monitors.

"And you should have tried to at least negotiate, but sadly, I am not here to go over what are an increasing number of failures, instead, I am here to discuss next steps, as well as hunting down and capturing Taylor Hebert, heretofore known as the A rank threat, Basilisk."

_Scene Break_

Deep below Brockton Bay, in one of its many and labyrinthian sewer systems, a man name Jack Thompsons spent his days toiling away to ensure that vital systems of Brockton kept going.

Having worked in the sewers for over twenty years, he was was well acquainted with all the sights, sounds, and yes, even smells of the Brockton sewer system.

Which is why he stopped working immediately when he heard what sounded like a gas leak echo from somewhere behind him. He immediately turned around, but saw nothing.

"Hello!" He called out, his voice strong and strident in the pressing dark of the stinking sewers. "Is anyone there?!"

There was no reply, shrugging, Jack turned back to his work, when this time the same hiss as before sounded again, this time, like it was coming from one of the cross tunnels just a few feet away.

Whirling around again he stared into the tunnel in front of him, the beam of light from his flashlight wandering across the walls, and the flowing sewage of the T-section where he was working.

Sighing to himself he walked up to the lip of the floor before it fell away to flowing, foul smelling sewage.

He sighed again. The dark had to be getting to him, during the winter months, he, by the necessity of his work wouldn't see the sun for months at a time.

He turned back to the section of pipes that he had been working on, one hand coming to scratch the back of his head sheepishly.

But then, behind him, he heard something absolutely massive erupt out of the sewage slurry behind him he turned just in time to see a massive set of fangs, connected to an even larger mouth bite down.

His death was instant, and painless.

When other workers went down to investigate after he didn't come back, all they would find was his tools, and his flashlight, its slowly dying beam illuminating a small trail of dried blood.


	3. Chapter 3

_Jormungandr Chapter three_

Kaiser lounged on his throne of sharpened steel, his metallic gauntlets creating a rhythmic clinking of metal against metal that was loud in the relative quiet of a congregation of the Empires faithful.

To either side of his throne, were Kaisers symbols of authority, his capes.

To his left, Victor, Othala, and Crusader. To his right, Hookwolf, Cricket, and Rune. The others were scattered around his territory, insuring that his interests would remain secure while he dealt with the opportunity that had bee laid in front of him.

He rose, metal spikes emerging from his armor until a cape of blades, flowed around him. Striding forward, he looked down upon his followers, these were his lieutenants and captains, the fervent and the loyal.

And the stupid. But that just made them easier to manipulate.

"My friends! Today is a dark day for the superior race! Through the actions of one of loyal allies in the PRT, I have recently been informed of a terrible event! One that as is all too common in these dark days, a white girl, a pure girl, has been triggered through the actions of an animal!"

There was a veritable mountain of boo's and hisses, Kaiser let it go on for a long minute before holding his hands up in a pacifying gesture.

"I know, I know, and we will avenge our stricken sister. But first, and most importantly, we must look to our borders, we must find our sister, and we must welcome her into the fold!"

Cheers and shouts of glee.

"But we must remain wary, for I do not believe that the Dragon will let our sister, who apparently has triggered into the form of a great snake, to remain," And now Kaiser let the audible sneer, leak into his voice. "Since he is a dragon."

More boos and hisses that quickly died down.

"And more than that, we must guard our weakened sister against the approach of the degenerate merchants."

Again, boos and hisses, even more than before.

"And most of all, we must stand staunchly against the approaches of the PRT, in their misled, and unjust methods of persecution in order to cover up their own failing, they will cause far more harm than good when they attack us in our duties of protecting the pure against the animal!"

Kaiser smoothly flowed into a pose, armor gleaming in the light, one hand held up, palm towards his face as though to grasp a low hanging fruit.

"But we will persevere, we will endure, we will conquer! For we are EMPIRE!"

His awe struck followers began chanting, slowly at first, scattered members picking it up, until it was a veritable mountain of noise.

'EMPIRE!

'EMPIRE!'

'EMPIRE'

Kaiser felt himself smirk.

Excellent, he didn't actually want to recruit the live grenade that was this new trigger, this 'Basilisk', but a white girl, bullied by a black girl? A ward at that, well, that was information more valuable than gold, more valuable than parahumans.

_Scene Break_

Across the city, in a penthouse overlooking the lights of Brockton at night, a massive asian man stood, his broad, tattooed back bared to the chill of the room. Another, smaller man opened the door before shutting it quietly, the soft ka-chack of the door closing causing the large man to turn around.

His face was broad, his nose broken, with a scattering of scars across his brutish, if noble face. The smaller man handed him a tablet, he grunted and swiped through a number of pictures before handing it back.

Then without another word, he turned back, and continued staring out the window. The smaller man bowed, and left the room without say a word.

_Scene Break_

Coil, or rather Thomas Calvert sat through a briefing on his newest problem. To be fair, it would also advance his plans by a fair margin, but the fact there was a 20 foot long serpent with a _petrifying gaze in _**_his _**_sewers!?_

Calvert felt his knuckles pop as his hands tightened.

The incompetence to not even be able to muzzle a dog that you specifically brought into the fold.

Piggot should be shot for incompetence, that for once he hadn't caused.

_Scene Break_

At the main entrance to the city municipal sewers, PRT trooper, and squad Leader Tina Sylder stood with a dozen troopers, more police officers, and half a dozen members of various titles repair union members, each with enough gear to go searching through the tunnels for days if necessary.

The squad leader stood, and flipped up the visor for her helmet.

"We are here to find conclusive evidence of the A rank parahuman known as Basilisk in the city sewers. Everyone here is a volunteer, everyone here has lost people. Everyone knows the risks. But let me make one thing clear. We are NOT here to fight, capture, or kill Basilisk. We are here to find proof that the snake is in the sewers, then find her general location if we can, then we bug out as fast we can. Our limit for this is two days, before we swap out with the next group. We clear?"

"YES MA'M!"

And with that, Trooper Slylder turned on her heel, and marched into the dank sewers, almost a hundred men behind her.

_Scene Break_

Deep inside the sewers, a single, eye blinked open, at first it seemed to be a milky blue, and then a second, clear lens opened, revealing an eye of deep yellow, and a voice like silk over gravel rasped through the tunnel.

_'more snacks hmmm'_

And as massive coils moved through the dark, there was a second whisper.

This one, of a terrified girl.

"No_,_ no more, _Please._"

_End of Chapter three_


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four_

In Winslow far above, where the petrified, frozen staff and students had been left, the PRT troopers were still going over every inch of the school in order to find any additional information that they possibly could, both about the newest threat to Brockton, and about her victims.

They had exhausted almost every option, but then one of the scientists had a flash of insight. He had raced out of the school, and returned less than twenty minutes later with a portable ultra-sound.

He had quickly set it up, spreading the gel on a victims chest before placing strapping the sensor onto their chest, directly above their heart.

And then waited, at the one hour mark, their was a blip on the sensor, a single kick of movement, one heartbeat.

There was cheering that was quickly shushed, and then once again, at the hour mark, there was another heartbeat.

"THE STUDENTS ARE STILL ALIVE!"

Cheers shook the windows of Winslow, but deep below Brockton, great coils of flesh moved, a long serpentine tongue tasting the air as it moved, and a pair of great yellow eyes seemed to glow bright with inner power…

_Scene Break_

Troopers August, Sylvia, Michaels, and Grey were taking point as they slowly marched through the tunnels, with them was Policer officer Eveline Wright, and Eugene Smith, a man who had been working as a repairman for the cities utilities for over ten years, and had worked with a man who was thought to be one of Basilisks victims which was why he had volunteered to guide the troopers and the police officer through the maze of tunnels.

They were about an hour into their slow exploration and had yet to find any sign of the serpent. They had stopped to take a quick break, when Wright, the police officer, began speaking, her voice hesitant, her red hair shining in the artificial light from headlamps, while her pale, freckled skin was cast in shadow.

"So… What happens if we can't beat this thing?"

The troopers visibly flinched, before exchanging glances with each other, it was the kind of glances that held a hell of a lot of subtext.

The trooper in charge of the squad, trooper August, turned looked to each of the members of his squad, who each nodded, before turning to the police officer and sighing. He rubbed the stubble that was growing on his chin idly as he thought about how to answer the rookie officers question.

"It'll be bad. Right now this Parahuman is a solidly A level threat through the virtue of what abilities we know, and the PRT and Protectorate have never actually seen her fight. Right now the only reason we're trying to capture, rather then kill the thing is because we don't know wether or not the condition of the petrified is actually reversible yet. If it turns out that Basilisk gets much bigger then its current reported 20ft, gets tougher, or exhibits any more powers, its almost certain it will get a kill order. And, well…"

August's hands tightened so hard that the others could hear the squeak of metal on plastic.

"If we are unable to fulfill the kill order then there will be a quarantine."

The others all swallowed as they considered a citywide quarantine, something that was only used for towns and cities subjected to the Simurgh, or Nilbog.

Smith took a swallow from a water bottle strapped to his side, and let loose a satisfied grunt.

"It does not matter." His voice was thick and accented from some now defunct European country. "We are here to find the beast, and where if sleeps if we can. Then we run out and get the heroes to come and nuke this place."

His word were thick, but pronounced with the care of someone who did not have English as a first language.

The troopers all nodded and made agreeing sounds.

Then they heard something fall into the water. August held one finger up to his lips as he turned around, brining his containment foam launder up to bear and flipping on its infrared sight. He slowly panned the sight down the tunnel they had yet to travel through.

Their was nothing. Smoothly moving on the balls of his feet, almost soundlessly, he turned to examine the tunnel they had just come from.

Still nothing.

He let out a breath of relief and made the all clear signal before sitting back down, placing his launcher back down and wiping his brow to get rid of the nervous sweat.

Smith smirked.

"Be calm trooper. We have much tunnel to travel through before getting to the area where the other workers have disappeared. That was most likely a rat, or piece of loose masonry falling into the running sewage."

That was, of course, when they heard the blood-curdling scream that echoed and ran through the tunnels like a living thing.

It was ululating, raspy, broken thing, that got louder and more strident before being cut off like a frayed rope finally snapping.

The men and women looked at each other for a brief second, an unanimous vote taken between them.

They turned and ran towards the screams, Smith directing them with only gestures and the occasionally tossed out terse direction.

They arrived after a frenzied run, to discover a scene straight out of a horror movie.

Bodies, torn to pieces, with massive puncture wounds, with blood splashed everywhere like a Pollock. The rookie officer gagged, one hand coming up to her mouth to stifle the burning puke that threatened to force its way up her throat.

The others mercifully ignored her, to engrossed in their tasks to comfort the rookie seeing something like this for the first time.

Which meant the all missed the ripple in the water that quickly and smoothly moved towards the rookie officer, they also didn't notice the long, suspension cable sized tail until it was wrapped around Wright, and then surge of into the night, her screams ignored, their shouts denied.

_Scene Break_

Eveline, her friends called her Evy, woke to someone shaking her harshly by the shoulders, and hissing in her ear.

"Wake up! You've got to wake up! _Please!_"

Evy opened her eyes and blinked. There was a tall teenage girl, with long brown hair shaking her by the shoulders.

"Hello, what's your name little girl?"

She asked, her head still a little loopy from passing out.

The teen blinked.

"Its Taylor Hebert."

Taylor blinked again before shaking her hands and head back and forth furiosly.

"Nononono, we don't have time for this! We need to go now!"

Evy, managing to shake the fuzz out of her head staggered to her feet and slung her arm over the tall teen.

"Come on, I got a good knock on the head, so you'll have to help, but what the hell were you doing down here?"

Taylor shivered, despite the warm muggy air of the sewers.

"I got thrown to my locker, it had been filled with a bunch of filth, that honestly should have been down here. But then after a little bit, I remember hearing this great hissing sound, and then getting my locker door ripped off, and I was dragged out by a massive snake. After that, it brought me down here. It even brought me… _Bodies_, to eat I guess, like it was some sort of cat, but I couldn't eat them, least not yet."

Evy blinked,

"So when the snake dropped me off for you?…"

She trailed off and turned slightly green as Taylor nodded.

"I'm pretty sure it was seeing if I wanted to try something that was still alive, yes."

Suddenly Taylor froze, and hissed out of one corner of her mouth.

_"Don't. Move. An Inch."_

Evy blinked, as opened her mouth to speak, but her mouth clicked shut when a massive, bone rattling hiss like the water leaking from the worlds largest boiler directly behind her.

She turned, ever so slowly, and in front of her was the largest head, of the largest snake she had ever seen, it was around the size of a small car, with long, coiling tube of dark scaled flesh extending back into the dark.

She felt a small squeak die, un-uttered in her throat.

_End Of Chapter 4_


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter five_

Piggot blinked at the report in front of her. And then looked up at Armsmaster with an expression of utmost confusion. Honestly, it reminded the younger man of a comedy video he had watched when he was younger where one of the actors had been slapped by a sea bass.

"Is this real? Are you telling me that the parahuman we've been hunting, is in fact, _not_ our parahuman?"

Armsmaster couldn't help it, he shrugged, the motion over-exaggerated in his power armor.

"Either that, or she's a master and the snake is her projection, which she may or may not have control over. Either way will be testing it, we'l also keep her under lock and key in master stranger containment for a few days, try sedation, and a number of the different methods we have for detecting wether or not its an unconscious projection."

Piggots thumbs kneaded at her aching temples as she leaned back in her chair, its leather and gears squeaking slightly as it coped with her weight.

"And what will we do if it turns out she isn't the parahuman?"

Armsmaster spoke stoically, only the slight tightening of his lips betraying his distaste with the idea that he might've missed something so huge.

"Then we go back, go over the subject pool again, we proceed with no assumptions. Basilisk could be a projection, it could be a changer. We will reexamine everyone, teachers and students, as well as any outside factors that might have contributed."

Piggot sighed again, and reached for her intercom, she paused briefly,

"And how many troopers did we loose?"

Collin frowned further, large lines carving themselves around his mouth, like a chisel into granite.

"Two full squads, and the trooper who brought in Hebert is still… _Unbalanced._"

_Scene Break_

Taylor slowly paced the circumference of her confinement cell, after being _rescued_ by trooper Evy, she had been brought here directly, they fed her good food though, surprising good actually, and regularly checked in on her.

Of course now, the question was, what to do, what to do…

Of course, there was always the option to bring the snake to her, but that would involve the Protectorate as a whole, and as much as she loathed to admit it, she wasn't in the position to face them quite yet, for that… She would need a team, and she knew **_exactly _**where to get them…

_Scene Break_

Almost a dozen floors above where Taylor lay in wait, Officer Eveline lay in a coma, Panacea was do to come in tomorrow to give a detailed diagnostic workup, but for now she would lay in her bed in the Rigs infirmary.

Or at least she would have until a bone rattling hiss sounded out, shaking the very foundations of the rig, rattling the light fixtures and the furniture.

The hiss sounded out for a long thirty seconds before cutting itself off abruptly.

There was a long moment of silence, and then Evy's eyes shot open, a bright glowing blue, she sat up, and began to change, answering the call.

_Scene Break_

Across the city, Aisha Laborn, in the middle of attempting to shoplift some food from her local corner store felt a spike of pain lance through her, it felt like there were burning hot knives stabbing through her, and then she screamed as her skin shifted and she was covered in fur, and like dog coming to heel, she whirled and began run, answering the call.

_Scene Break_

Greg Veder was staring out at the water as debated throwing himself off the pier. He honestly didn't know if he was serious or not, all that he knew was he had survived when most of the people at his school hadn't, and that the situation wouldn't have even _happened_, if had just had the **balls** to stick up for others.

Then a lance of pain shot up his spine, he opened his mouth but couldn't even scream from the sheer agony that was consuming him, he pitched forward, his seizing body barely making a splash as it hit the icy waters below.

He continued to seize as he sank, his body shifting and changing, extra limbs bursting from his back, until a mammoth shape began to slip through the waters, answering the call.

_Scene Break_

In Winslow, one of the still petrified students began to flake and crumble, and then shift as it formed a majestic equine, this one with eight great limbs, it stood briefly, pawing at the ground with one of its front hooves, it turned in the direction of the water, and began to run, blasting through walls and obstacles through its way, answering the call.


End file.
